How to set keyframes

- Animation in Houdini can be accomplishedvia keyframe techniques as well asprocedural techniques where we usenetworks of nodes to generate animation data.We'll take a look at keyframe techniques first.There are three ways of generating keyframe data.We'll start with the most laboriousand we'll move towards the waysthat are more automatic and more fun.So we'll start by creating a box,we'll just grab a box from our shelfand drop it down in the middle of our scene.Next we're gonna go over tolittle Transform values here that got setwhen we dropped the box in the scene.

I'm just gonna zero these out, by doing 0, tab, 0, tab, 0.We know that it's right exactly in the middle now.So I'm gonna take the box, I'm gonnamove it -2 on the X, so I'm gonna type -2in this Translate field, and to set our first keyframe,I'm gonna right-click in this field, we're gonna goto Channels and Keyframes, Set Keyframe.And you can see that that field turned green,and it means there's a keyframe there.Now I'm gonna scroll to the end of our timeline,you can see the field is now, like, a dimmer green,it means that there's animation data in that fieldbut just no keyframe on that frame.

So I'm gonna change it to 2, and now you can seethat that field turns this kind of amber-ish color,and that means that you've changed itbut you haven't committed that keyframe change yet.And so, again, the laborious, manual way to do itis for you to right-click on this field,Channels and Keyframes, Commit Change.And so now it turns brighter green,and now we have set a keyframe.So now if I play this timeline back,yay, we have our first animation in Houdini.Now I'm gonna show you a little bitmore of a shortcut way to set these keyframes.So let's scroll back to the beginning,I'm gonna right-click where it saysTranslate, here, and go Delete Channels,and that'll delete out the animation data.

And I'm gonna Alt-left mouse click to set a keyframe,and you see it turns green like it did before,but we didn't have to navigate to any menus.Now I'm gonna scroll to the end of the timeline,I'm gonna change this to a 2,and then Alt-left mouse click.And we just did the exact same thing we did before,but instead of having to navigate through menus,we used an Alt-left mouse click to set the keyframes.So if we play this back, we get the same animationbut we were able to make it faster.And I'm gonna show you a third wayto set keyframes that's even fasterand is a lot more handy when you're doinga lot more complicated things and you don't wannahave to manually deal with setting these keyframesat all, you want them to automatically get set.

So we'll scroll back to the beginning.Again, I'm gonna right-clickon Translate, and Delete Channels.And I'm gonna Alt-left mouse clickto set my first keyframe, but if we scrollto the end, and then I hit this key here,with the plus sign over it, the Auto Key,now, when we make a change it willautomatically set that keyframe without us havingto commit the change with another Alt-left mouse click.So now, and I'm just gonna manuallydrag this box over here this time,let it go, you can see that this fieldturned that green color, it wasn't thatsort of in-between state, it automatically did it.

And now if I press Play, there we go,there we have our animation.So now we've seen three different waysto set keyframes, from the menu styleto the clicking style, to then ultimatelythe auto key style, which, you know,once you set your initial keyframes,will enable you to not have to worry aboutactually manually setting them all the time.

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Released

1/19/2015

Amidst the myriad of 3D tools, Houdini is unique, offering a procedural workflow and node networks that allow for increased complexity and asset reusability. And with the Houdini Engine plugin, users of other 3D tools can now incorporate Houdini's procedural power into their workflows.

These tutorials introduce the fundamental 3D concepts (modeling, animation, texturing, lighting, and rendering) as they apply in Houdini. Instructor Scott Pagano shows how to manipulate geometry; apply materials; add lights and cameras to a scene; render work with Houdini's internal renderer, Mantra; and even create simple particle systems. The course will start new users on a path to more advanced 3D work and show experienced users of other 3D packages how to transfer their skills to the world of Houdini.